Cal students were so embarrassed by their university’s football team during the Joe Kapp era in the 1980s that many showed up at Memorial Stadium wearing t-shirts that read “The Bear will not quit, The Bear will not die, The Bear will not win,” a take-off on a promise by Kapp.

A generation later the Bear doesn’t even have heart.

Under Jeff Tedford the Bear quits.

Early and often.

Cal’s fold job in Saturday’s 30-3 loss to No. 7 USC had to look all too familiar to Golden Bear fans. It was as obvious in the first half Saturday as it was in the second quarter two years ago when the Bear caved in the desert heat of Tempe that Cal has packed it in.

Two years ago, Cal gave up 24 unanswered points in a 31-20 loss to Arizona State. By the end of the night the Bears were barely going through the motions.

Saturday the not-so-Golden Bears mailed it in for the second straight week. In last week’s 42-3 debacle against Oregon and the loss to the Trojans, Cal has given up 980 yards total offense and Heisman Trophy-candidate tailback Jahvid Best is averaging 3.3 yards per carry.

Scott M. Reid is a sports enterprise/investigative reporter for the Orange County Register. He also covers Olympic and international sports as well as the Los Angeles’ bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games. His work for the Register has led to investigations by the International Olympic Committee, the U.S. Department of Education, the California Legislature, and the national governing bodies for gymnastics and swimming. Reid's 2011 reporting on wide spread sexual abuse within USA Gymnastics and the governing body's failure to effectively address it led to Don Peters, coach of the 1984 record-setting Olympic team, being banned from the sport for life. His reporting also prompted USA Gymnastics to adopt new guidelines and policies dealing with sexual abuse. Reid's 2012 and 2013 reporting on sexual abuse within USA Swimming led to the banishment of two top level coaches. Reid has won 11 Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting since 1999. He has also been honored by APSE for game writing, and enterprise, news, and beat reporting. He was an Investigative Reporters and Editors award finalist in 2002 and 2003. Prior to joining the Register in 1996, Reid worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Dallas Times Herald. He has a B.A. in the History of the Americas from the University of Washington.